Happy 2023 - Thoughts on 100 years of Computing Technologies Past 50 and Next 50

 

As we say goodbye to 2022 and walk into 2023, some thoughts and points to ponder!

World has benefited significantly from computers. We live longer and our lives are way better. Along the way lots of people have become richer courtesy computing technologies. Whether we realize it or not, computers have also proliferated democracy. Anyone anywhere can get a bright idea, build a winning product and become world famous and rich. That’s all in the last 50-60 years. I feel the computing revolution has just begun. Can’t imagine what the next half century will bring. Semiconductor chips driven by smart software will enter our bodies for good and will improve our lives. Defective body parts may get permanent replacement, remediated at DNA level and much more. And all of this with the current computing model. I am sure even that will change, creating use cases that look science fiction today.

Computers essentially simulate the real world and make it operate real fast. Some call it the digital twin. For example, someone manually determining the savings of say 100 million people by subtracting individual expenses from the income of each person will take a few thousand hours; the same will be done by a computer in less than five seconds. And newer computers are smaller and cost less. That’s the reason, we carry a movie maker and a theater in our palms today. Now we are making computers learn just like humans do. Who knows in future computers may possess wisdom which is right now the domain of humans.

Many think, technologies of the last 50-60 years have been the most revolutionary. Hold your thoughts. Let’s go back to 1850 to 1910. Steam engines, electricity, telephone, and the ability to fly all happened in that period. In 1840, one had to use a horse carriage, ride a dirt road having no lights and could not communicate before arriving at the destination. All of that changed by 1905. One could just make a phone call, take a train, or fly. Technology breakthroughs are revolutionary.

There is also a downside to technology. I think the time has come to think about regulating technology without impacting innovation. Cybercrime, ill effects of digital media etc. are warning signs. We don’t want the benefits of technology to be negated.

While affluence is increasing so is greed. Money at any cost, even if it means unfair and foul ways. It is like a disease. It starts from dodging taxes, breaking laws all the way to defying democracy to get more power and retain it at any cost. Today’s wars and conflicts arise out of this attitude. World seems to be drifting away from civility and human values. While there will be winners, let’s not junk or look down on losers. “Winner Take All” is not all that a good Idea. Every living being has a right to a decent life, winner or loser! 

Happy 2023!

Posted on LinkedIN: https://rb.gy/2pdsu6

Reducing Carbon Footprint Towards Climate Change - Appeal to Computer Scientists & Software Professionals

 

Very high temperatures have baked India this summer, the worst in 122 years. One can roast an egg on a rock. Pune, known for its moderate climate, feels like an oven. Its high temperatures now but there can be cyclones and flash floods in just three months from now. Frequency and intensity of natural disasters has surpassed all limits. All of us know carbon emissions due to energy consumption is the main culprit. We have been warned by none other than the United Nations that we better limit the temperature rise to less than 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7-degree Fahrenheit) by 2030 else our mother Earth will not be habitable for living beings. 

Unfortunately, computers have played their part in the deterioration of the climate. A laptop used for 8 hours a day generates 30 kg to 90 kg CO2 equivalent. A desktop computer generates 3 to 5 times CO2 equivalent as compared to a laptop. The Internet is not far behind. Massive data in Cloud meaning data centers of web-scalers like Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others means more carbon emissions due to energy consumption. Even mobile phones and charging of the same left ON can deteriorate the climate since half the world’s population has mobile phones today. 

Computers used by people, corporations, and governments also power the Internet and thus create a massive carbon footprint. Who drives computers? Software! So along with hardware designers we the software people have primary responsibility for designing systems that are energy efficient and not energy guzzlers. Here are some simple guidelines for us: 

1. In the Systems Life Cycle methodology, introduce review steps from the standpoint of reducing energy consumption in computing and network traffic. Sustainability is added as a criterion in addition to reliability, scalability, modularity and zero defect (if one ever achieves that).
2. Semiconductor chipsets that drive technologies such as artificial intelligence consume power. Unless serious machine learning is needed, its best to keep applications simple. Not using AI may seem counter intuitive, but the rationale that the application does not justify it and it is environment friendly will find resonance with end users. 
3. Network traffic goes up for centralized or cloud hosted applications. While Cloud is an accepted norm today, data and computing at the edge has gained currency. A distributed architecture that reduces data traffic will be preferable from an energy efficiency standpoint. 
4. All wireless devices have WiFi and Bluetooth radios. Mobile phones and some tablet computers also have cellular radios. These radios consume power. State of the art has reached a point where radios go into 'sleep' mode if there is no activity and wake up when needed. Waking up algorithms need to be smarter. At times, WiFi turns on when a familiar or say known WiFi is sensed. Its got to be smarter than that and when these devices are on an application, the environment can figure out if the radios need to be in 'sleep' mode or awaken. To reduce power consumption not just to extend the battery life but from sustainability view point. 

Let’s count the number of trees we need to plant for our technology usage. Simply put, each person needs to plant at least ~14 trees over the lifetime to be carbon neutral personally (CO2 emission at individual level) and ~2 to 5 trees every year for the use of laptop and a mobile phone. 

Stay Safe and Enjoy God's Chikki My Dear Kesav

Prof Kesav Nori has left for his heavenly abode and it has created a big vacuum in the lives many of us he touched. He was Kesav, Nori-saab, Prof. Nori, KVN to his friends, peers and ‘mentees’. He was known to leave one unforgettable story as a shared memory for each of the people in his life.  

Here is mine! Kesav, I hope you like it, as you settle down in heaven. 

While in TCS, I met Kesav for the first time in 1984/85, before leaving for the US for business development. Kesav shared his ideas about compiler technology he was planning to build. Well, I ran into a business opportunity immediately upon landing in the US where Kesav’s techniques could be applied. But it was a tad bit early and premature. Most academics and researchers would have resisted. But not Kesav. His enthusiasm that someone in sales trusted his research ideas even before they were fully baked was good enough. 

Fast forward to 1988, I returned to India and joined TRDDC with the objective of creating Object Technology group. I also had unwritten responsibility to be the glue between TCS (the business) and TRDDC (the research). This not only became possible but was done very well because of Kesav. We had intense arguments, different viewpoints and interesting debates. Our basis were different but the confluence we reached was spectacular and sowed wonderful seeds for the work beyond programming languages and compiler technology at TRDDC at that time. With Kesav, even the most differing view point debates were in soft in decibel but intense and loud in intellectual rigour.  Whenever we felt we needed a break from the intensity, we would take a walk to the nearby petrol pump on Bund Garden road for some chikki. There was a shop tucked inside the petrol pump. He loved sweets and got me also hooked to chikki. Till date, I cannot eat chikki without thinking of Kesav.  

Kesav was the “Buddha” who showed me the light to search the science of software and gather courage to swim in the stormy ocean of computer science. Kesav’s deep knowledge of how to construct software, transform it, preserve its intermediate States, prove correctness, software reliability, formalism of programming languages, concept of a machine behind an application was a vast canvas on which one could walk any path to anywhere starting from anywhere and learn. Serendipity was discernible in this journey. One can compare it to a giant tree where one could climb get hold of any limb and traverse the tree. 

Kesav enjoyed functional programming and lambda calculus but was not a fan of AI State of the Art in late 80s. I always tried to convince him to treat it as engineering approach rather than put it through the scrutiny of theoretical foundation of programming. 

He was deeply influenced by Prof. Nicklaus Wirth (Father of Pascal programming language and 1984 Turing Award Winner). Kesav spent time at ETH Zurich with Prof. Wirth. He developed ideas around the “complier compiler” tool during his stay at Carnegie Mellon University. He developed an exceptionally deep understanding of “Compiler Compiler”. He was also an ardent admirer of Prof. Dijkstra and Prof. Hoare. 

My charter at TRDDC was to expand to other areas that were relevant to TCS. Kesav not only accepted but embraced databases, meta data, persistent data models and rule based engines (that pretty much defined AI in those times) at TRDDC. We built a “meta meta” data modelling engine called Adex. Adex was also viewed as reimplementation on Unix of TCS’ advanced data dictionary technology CasePac. We also enhanced it with ‘meta meta’ data. He was an active participant in Adex and another data engine as much as in any other compiler tool. When Anand Deshpande visited TRDDC and gave a talk on nested relational databases, lots of conversations started on history of databases, Coad’s relational algebra, what RDBMS were doing to application areas, normalization and de-normalizations, complex data objects, object data bases that were beginning to show up, structures compilers deal with etc. 

Kesav shifted gears from academics to serious TCS style proposal writing effortlessly. At times, he guessed that I wanted something different than R&D just from the way I walked to his desk. He would quip, “You are going to make me write part of some proposal, right”. 

The artist in Kesav was as classy as the computer scientist. He was an Origami expert and was excellent at calligraphy. I remember an incident when we were in Bangalore for a CDAC partner conference. At the breakfast table, mats were made of thick paper. And the hotel was celebrating American week and had pictures of American eagle in the restaurant. Kesav picked the table mat and created a beautiful American Eagle and calligraphed Stars ‘n’ Stripes. The hotel Manager was mighty impressed. We got dinner on the house that evening! His origami was amply visible in the TRDDC library. 

There are very few people who effortlessly amalgamate science, engineering, art and business. With Kesav, Philosophy was the fifth dimension. Kesav combined these such that each prospered on his canvass. Besides exceptional professional achievement, here was a warm hearted, genuine and simple person. After leaving Pune, he visited Rajani and me whenever in Pune. Rajani, my wife made bhutte ka kees that he used to like. Bhutte ka kees is a popular recipe from Indore made from grated Indian corn (not the American sweet corn). 

We miss you Kesav. But your memories will bring eternal pleasure to all of us. Stay safe in heaven, my dear friend. I hope you’re busy creating art, smiling and enjoying God’s chikki.

It's the Habits, Stupid

Habits shape our lives and impact not only individuals but also organizations, communities, cities and even nations. Habits are influenced by one’s value system and impact how good or bad a life we live. We get our values from our parents, family, school, teachers, leaders, gurus, colleagues and friends. Simple things like being on time, not breaking traffic rules, studying, exercising, helping others etc. are good habits, Reverse of these are the bad habits. If we know good habits are good for us, why do we pick bad habits. Simple, bad habits often give temporary pleasure, expediency and short term advantage. Going through a red light may give you temporary time advantage. People dodge tax if they feel no one will catch them. Lost tax revenue is the cost everyone pays for this bad habit of few.  

Habits are formed early in life like our value system. Over time, habits become standard operating procedure (SoP) for individuals as well as communities, nations and even global ecosystems. Recent pounding of Gaza strip killing innocent citizens, reckless election rallies in India or using teachers on election duties started as bad habits, now are SoPs and have now hurt big time. On the other hand, discipline and courage shown by Indian Navy & Coast Guard in rescuing people from Barge 305 or dedication shown by the frontline workers during the pandemic are shining examples of excellent SoPs and the value system. 

Industries also create good or bad habits. Indian Software industry has been built on meritocracy by qualified and competent people with foresight. Results are there for everyone to see. On the other hand, public health infrastructure in India and its multidimensional failure due to low priority and negligence by politicians is also for everyone to see. Real estate and construction industry could have been lot better, had it not developed some of the bad habits. 

People pay a heavy price for their bad habits like not following Covid-19 guidelines has cost people their lives. Here are some bad habits (List can grow) that immediately come to mind:

1. Bribing. It is a bad habit one picks seeing other do it and get away with it. But it costs the character and does serious damage to the entire community. 

2. Ignoring safety norms by hospitals, restaurants, hotels resulting in fires taking lives of many people many times, not just pandemic times. 

3. Giving teachers election duty, causing damage to schools. This bad habit has become a SoP in India. 

4. Poor lifestyle habits increasing the intensity of the Covid-19 disease broke the national healthcare infrastructure and caused permanent loss of loved ones. 

5. Indifference to Covid-19 guidelines by people leading to super spreading of the disease. 

6. Voting along community lines by individuals and exploiting of that mindset by politicians. 

7. Announcing payment to victims of an accident, riot etc. but not paying on time is a bad habit of Indian politicians. 

8. Complex tendering process in India has caused delays in implementing Oxygen plants in hospitals. It is not just the Government but bad habits of vendors to manipulate tender specifications, choosing lowest cost bidder ignoring quality has cost serious damage.

9. Gathering sycophants may make leaders feel great for a while but it costs them their position 

10. Misusing permanent membership in UN Security Council in a biased and unjust manner by powerful nations

11. ++, many more!

In spite of creation of immense wealth and benefits of technology, there is restlessness around the world. It is time we take stock of all of bad habits that have caused this restlessness and get rid of the bad habits for the good of the humanity. 

 

It is breathing, people

Corona virus has brought out our strengths and exposed our weaknesses in a manner like never before. One of the weaknesses and should I call it a bad habit, is today’s lifestyle when even breathing, so fundamental to living has become an issue or a skill to be learnt. 

In India, if people who got Covid -19 knew simple breathing techniques and had sound breathing habit, many of them would not have required an oxygen concentrator or a cylinder. That would have eased the burden on the system across the country. My brother-in-law (Rajani’s brother) got Covid-19. He was in home isolation. His oxygen level dropped to 92 / 91. The doctor cautioned us that if the Oxygen level does not go up, he needs to be hospitalized. Being aware of proper breathing and other techniques through “Pranayama”, he got his oxygen level to 93/94 in a day and past 95 next day. 

If you do any form of exercise and / or housework you know how critical the ability to breath is. Breathing is not rocket science. There are few basic things. First, belly has to expand while inhaling and contract while exhaling. Secondly, breathing should be slow and rhythmic. Finally, chest up when inhaling and as said before, belly in when exhaling. People often do the opposite i.e. they contract while inhaling. In addition, we do shallow breathing most of the time. Our lifestyle makes us tense often and when one is tense, shallow breathing often takes over. Whether it is irritation with a small thing like 180 second RED traffic light or major issue like not getting a promotion or anxiety of new job or a life defining examination, shallow breathing starts. Over time shallow breathing becomes a habit seriously impacting simple act of breathing and the lung capacity. 

I am not saying the Government is not to blame for the current crisis. The Government has been careless, reckless and clueless to say the least. But we the people have made it worse through our habits – first ignoring Covid-19 guidelines, and then our lifestyle has made us weak. We ignore the fundamental of life – proper breathing.

State funding of elections - to stem the rot of unchecked corruption by political parties

If you ask anyone about the current fracas in Maharashtra about Rs. 100 Crore per month saga, most people will blame corrupt and greedy politicians. Media shows as if people are getting to know this first time, rather naive. If you speak with any traditional businessperson, you will realize it is common across the country and cuts across political parties What’s differentiating about MH saga is the, criminal aspect (with the death of a businessperson) and that a working senior IPS officer of the rank of Director General has officially complained to the Hon. Chief Minister. I don’t want to get into the whether it is true or the mechanics but want to ask the question, “Why is the fundraise for a political party so murky? And is there a way to solve this systematically. 

If one looks at political parties of today, they all need significant funds to run their machinery. Politicians senior or junior, good or bad in public eye have to ensure finances are lined up. It’s like CEOs and top team of a company have to ensure tanks are filled to take the growth ride. Life for a CEO is challenging but s(he) has access to legal money. What about a political party? Finances are often shrouded in secrecy. Consequently, these not so healthy practices have become common. A minister of a Government under Constitutional oath does not feel wrong or guilty of collecting funds through Government administrative machinery. It is alarming to say the least. 

Electoral politics is integral part of a democracy and it requires funding. Current ecosystem does not provide simple and clean way to raise finances. The system has become murkier over the years. People of India need to ask a question? Do they value democracy? And if Yes, are they willing to fund elections using State funding so that these murky practices are checked to begin with and are stopped subsequently. I reckon most people will react angrily to this suggestion. Why should I pay for a corrupt politician to fight elections? People are in a way justified in their opposition to the idea but see what has happened in absence of a proper financing mechanism. Rampant, unchecked practices to collect money! If we as people are willing to pay taxes that go toward armed forces, education and other national priorities, why have we left such a crucial aspect of our nation and democracy totally exposed to exploitation. 

A system is as good as the people in it. Politics had high morals, dedication to a cause (like the freedom struggle) when people in it had high morals. It’s not that they did not have differences. If one takes galaxy of leaders from freedom struggle era, they had their differences, but they had ethics and decency. Unfortunately, we have crossed all norms of decency and reached a point where unless this cancer is arrested, democracy is at stake. One can go into history and all reasons why we have reached this stage, critical thing is to arrest this rot and make systemic changes. We have stellar examples where a handful of good people have shown how good systems are created and take roots in India. Entrance examination to IITs / IIMs, IT industry, Election Commission, SEBI have over the years proven their mettle. JEE is considered one of the most prestigious examinations. Entire IT service industry has been built on meritocracy and global competitiveness, because early enough, good people started it. What’s unique about IT Services industry is that not only did India become a leader, but it also invented remote IT services that’s followed by the world now. Election Commission has gotten rid of a bunch of bad practices. SEBI cleaned capital markets. 

If people think these are from old times, Swachh Bharat mission by Prime Minister Modi caught people’s attention and imagination. India is much cleaner today in a short span of few years. Same can happen to State funding of elections. It is possible and doable. 

Though not having done detailed analysis (and at times feeling in capable of such an analysis), I wish to suggest the following: 

1. Let’s accept that like many essentials of democracy and Governance, funding support for elections needs to be considered. 
2. Whatever mechanics are decided, parties need to be funded prorate based on the popular votes polled in national, State and local elections. 
3. Let the practice of donations by businesses be above board. 
4. Election Commission plus parliamentarians, State Assembly representatives, Constitutional experts and even industry bodies like CII create a body like GST Council, Finance Commission to come up with details. 
5. Last but most important, this is a complex matter and will require time, patience and participation of the entire political establishment and most important people and will require new laws and possibly Constitutional changes. Therefore, Hon. Prime Minister of India as the leader of world’s largest democracy initiate the debate so that all inputs are brought in and people are on board for this important reform. 

We need to give 3-5 years for first version and another 5 years for its operation when one can hope to start seeing the benefits – cleansing of the system and good people starting to drive electoral politics.

“India has no business being poor.” - Dr FC Kohli, March 1924 – Nov 2020

2020 left its biggest blow for the very end. 

As I write this, it has still not sunk in that Dr. Fakir Chand Kohli (#FCKohli) has left us to be with God. My first boss, my mentor, the person I wanted to be every single day for the good part of 14 years. He not only created the Indian Software industry but literally invented remote software development. In the 60s and 70s, when most computer manufacturers were American companies and Software was written inhouse, he saw the potential of software as the driver and more importantly, the pivotal role India can play as a software powerhouse. He put together a few unrelated macro trends – rapid innovations in computer science, industries relying on software en masse, Indian kids being good at math, flexible hard working young generation – and was the first visionary to put a roadmap for building an industry that defined (and continues to even today) India’s prominent role in global business. 

After completing his masters from MIT in 1948, he came back and joined Tata Power. After nearly 2 decades there, he was given charge of TCS in 1968. TCS grew and its model was adopted by many others. In 2016, TCS was India’s most valuable public company with a value of 650,000 Crores. Leading IT services companies of India were created and followed TCS, giving rise to the industry that has given India wealth, jobs, global outlook and confidence. This software industry that Dr. Kohli pioneered also showed the way to other part of the world such as Ireland, Europe, Asia and Latin America. In a way, not just India but the world owes him gratitude for creating this massive industry. 

He embodied gargantuan intellect, a global outlook, vision for future, people development, focus on R&D and the confidence to do things ‘first time at global level’ against extreme odds. Problem solving and helping India were his denominators. Looking back, we didn’t much discuss topline, bottom line, targets etc. that consume most of the conversation in today’s corporate world. TCS was about fundamental intrinsics, cutting edge innovation, developing distinctive people, and serving clients with world class solutions. 

We didn’t differentiate between Indian and overseas clients. He once remarked, “Whether its Bank of America or Bank of India, our solutions ought to be top class”. We didn’t work on just writing code but owned the entire lifecycle of systems and operated those for clients. The foundations laid by Mr. Kohli are so strong that TCS towers over all others in the industry. That is the power of his leadership and the successors he carefully created. 

He taught us how to not worry about job titles and hierarchies, to work collaboratively and spend time on professional development of self and others. Led by him, the atmosphere was deeply intellectual and academic. LC Singh, Founder & Chairperson of Nihilent and a close friend from TCS says, “The intellectual atmosphere was intense, almost scary at times”. I agree with him. But there was amazing freedom, devoid of politics, focused on meritocracy. 

He was deep, intense, committed and set very high standards for himself. Nothing was impossible for him and he expected the same from all of us. Once you figured out that his often-unreal expectation was his way of showing confidence in you, it became a powerful motivator. If you took an initiative and led it, he would back you beyond your expectations. He took pride when people with management degrees were deeply technical and engineers excelled in commercial and managerial roles. He built some world class generalist talent. 

Mr. Kohli was an academic and a researcher at heart while he led TCS as CEO. He played a pivotal role in founding of IIT Kanpur. He believed that existing institutions like College of Engineering, Pune and NITs should be upgraded in addition to creating new IITs. His work with COEP is proof of this idea. Though not that well known yet, the ‘software for adult literacy’ initiative that he led post his retirement is a torch bearer on what computers can do for humanity. Every time we met, he would ask me how much time I was spending on teaching. Coming to TCS from IITB, academics never left me and Dr Kohli was the biggest reason for that. 

I was among four people selected by Mr. Ramadorai and Dr. Kohli to expand TCS in US in 1985. We never looked back. Once on a visit to Dallas, I told him about the research on object technology taking place at Bell Labs and Texas Instruments. When I returned to India towards end of 1988, he asked me to join TCS Research (known as TRDDC) to create Object Technology group. Later I founded AI group for which many ideas came from him. Imagine doing AI more than 30 years back. Many people who heard of AI in past few years can’t believe this. Prof. Kesav Nori at TCS Research had created vibrant research program on compilers, program understanding and automatic software generation. We created an interesting fusion of compiler tools and data models to give birth to new software development architecture that is still the genesis of some of the TCS research today. Dr. Kohli supported us to the point where we would feel guilty of using company resources for R&D. Imagine marshalling your people through hardcore business development and then into R&D. I was amazed by how well he balanced commercial goals and R&D pursuits. He could zoom in grassroot detail and immediately zoom out and think 30,000 feet – both with alarming clarity and simultaneously. His cerebral fluidity was majestic.

For me, the benefits of exposure to him after a college degree have been life long and immense. I feel equally close to R&D and business. Compilers technology and its application to software analysis and migration tools, technology for software lifecycle tools big data platforms, local area networks, cybernetics, concurrent engineering, software metrics, computer human interactions and AI are some of the areas in which TCS did significant and world class R&D. 

He came across as a tough and a demanding person. But underneath that tough exterior, Dr. Kohli was extremely soft at heart. One incident comes to mind, Our son Shantanu was born in Dallas in 1987. Dr. Kohli and Mr. Ramadorai were in US and had a meeting in Houston. My wife Rajani and I were in hospital post-delivery and suddenly saw Ram and Dr Kohli come in the room! Not only did they come all the way (a Houston Dallas detour in those days was not easy) but had a wonderful pram and some toys as a gift for us. Till date, Rajani and I remember how both Dr. Kohli and Ram both sat next to her on the bed and spoke softly and affectionately. Another incident comes to mind which I just cannot forget. I was 28 or 29 at the time and Dr. Kohli sat in on one of my presentations. This was one of our first interactions. After it got done, he asked me to see him and I knew it can’t be good news. I walked into his intimidating corner office. It turned out Dr. Kohli just wanted to get to know me personally! He asked about my experience till then at TCS, my family, where I’m from, what hobbies I had. Finally, he asked about my father and I told him I lost him at age 7. He asked me how old my father would have been, and I told him. After a few thoughtful moments, he looked at me and said, ‘I am the same age as your father’. He left it at that, and I felt the room fill up with his affection toward a young employee he was getting to know. Of course, he used the ‘Don’t argue with me, I am like your father’ argument often in disagreements thereafter, but one gets a sense of his empathy and generosity in a few words. 

Dr. Kohli had a great a sense of humour. During founding of the AI group, he once quipped, “While you build artificial intelligence, don’t ignore natural intelligence!”. 

 When I joined TCS in 1978 after IITB, I had no clue that I will get an opportunity to work with a global visionary, a top-class human being and contribute my tiny bit in creating a global industry. It is terrific luck. 

Dr. Kohli, Sir you have contributed immensely to the industry, to India and earned your place high up in the heavens. 42 years of knowing you, learning from you, and being friends – I could not ask for more. While I will sorely miss you, we will continue to relish your memories and carry forward your mission. 

Salute to a true leader who selflessly shaped our nation.